Red Panda Ranger
by Joshifer4Everlark
Summary: Beca Mitchell discovers a new career path on the internet: becoming a Red Panda Ranger
1. Cho Oyu

A/N: Saw a thing online about becoming a Red Panda Ranger, and immediately wanted to write a story about it. Let me know if I should continue it. If I do, it'll be a 6 part Mini-Series.

**Cho Oyu**

"Chloe!" Beca screamed from her attic bedroom on Thursday afternoon.

Chloe, who was down in the Bella's kitchen making lunch, immediately dropped everything she was working on and raced up the 3 flights of stairs to the room she shared with the tiny brunette.

Gasping for breath, Chloe clutched at a stitch in her side as she rounded the corner at the top of the stairs, expecting to see her girlfriend laying on the floor dying or something equally terrible, having never heard such a noise come out of a human before. Instead, she saw the back of Beca's head firmly attached to a tiny body that was practically vibrating from excitement. Beca was sitting at her desk and staring intently at the computer screen in front of her, looking perfectly healthy if not a bit flushed.

"What's going on?" demanded Chloe, whose initial concern for the smaller girl was rapidly turning into anger.

"Look!" Beca said, spinning around on her chair. "You can become a red panda ranger," she said happily, oblivious to Chloe's internal dilemma of wanting to be relieved that Beca was not injured and also fighting the urge of actually injuring her girlfriend.

"You've got to be joking," she stared at the DJ in disbelief. "I thought you got hurt."

"No, I'm not! I'm totally fine. In fact, I'm better than fine. See this?" Beca picked up her laptop and turned it around showing the screen to Chloe.

"Kids, become a Red Panda ranger today and help us spread the word about red pandas," the older Bella read aloud.

"Beca," she said exasperatedly.

"What?" Beca asked innocently. "Doesn't that sound cool?"

Chloe wasn't sure if Beca was pretending or actually being serious. Deciding to play along, Chloe continued scanning the page.

"The Red Panda Ranger is a special title given to children who help spread the word about red pandas. To become a Red Panda Ranger, "climb" each of the five mountains on the map below by completing the activities for each mountain," Chloe finished reading.

"I am so doing this," Beca said turning the laptop back towards herself, scrolling down to the different tasks.

"Beca. This is for grade schoolers. You're in college."

"You're just jealous because I'm gonna be a ranger and you're not," Beca said, sticking out her tongue.

"_Okay, maybe she IS an actual child_," Chloe thought to herself. Looking over Beca's shoulder, Chloe read the task in order to "climb" the mountain.

Beca was already rapidly filling out her answers.

1\. What is your name and address? If you have an e-mail address, feel free to write that down, too!

_Beca Mitchell_

_22 Acapella Dr._

_Barden University_

_Atlanta, Georgia_

2\. How did you first learn about red pandas? (your teacher, a friend, a book?)

_I saw them at the Prospect Park zoo when I was on a trip to New York_

3\. Now let's test your red panda knowledge. Can you name one country where red pandas are found in the wild?

_Nepal, India, Bhutan, China and Myanmar (Burma)_

4\. Why are red pandas the "original" pandas (instead of giant pandas)?

_Because __It was first described in 1821, 48 years before the giant panda was found._

5\. What is a Nepalese name for red pandas, and what does it mean?

_"Nigalya poonya"- which means "eater of bamboo."_

6\. Why are red pandas sometimes called "firefoxes?"

_One local Chinese name for the red panda is hunho or firefox, due to their color and similar size to a fox. The web browser "Firefox" is named after them._

7\. How does a red panda's red fur help them hide from predators?

_Red Pandas' red and black color camouflages them from their predators. The red on their backs is exactly the same color as moss found on the trees where they live. The black on their stomach makes it difficult to see them from below._

8\. Do red pandas have claws?

_Yes, their claws are sharp and can be pulled back like a cat._

9\. Red pandas and giant pandas are both famous for eating a particular plant. In the wild, a red panda can eat up to 200,000 of this plant's leaves every day. What plant is it?

_Bamboo_

10\. Are red pandas more closely related to giant pandas or raccoons?

_Raccoons_

"Beca, maybe put a different address than our university one, and sound a bit stupider, since you know, its for kids in 6th grade and below," Chloe finally said, realizing that Beca was indeed serious about becoming a Red Panda Ranger." And don't copy the website word for word. That's plagiarism."

"But I want to be the best Red Panda Ranger, and the best people know their stuff."

"Okay fine, but can you tone it down just a little?"

"Yeah, sure," Beca agreed nodding her head empathetically, "I want others to feel like they can be good Red Panda Rangers too. Not just me."

"Well, when you're done with that, lunch is ready babe."

"Mmmkay," said Beca absent mindedly, now looking at pictures on Instagram of a red panda named Carson, who currently lives at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington.

"Oh dear lord," Chloe thought. "What did I just encourage?"


	2. Makalu

**Part 2: MAKALU**

**A/N: Apparently it was popular enough to be worth continuing, so here is part 2! It's short, but most of these will be. By the end, it will read like a normal length chapter and it also means there will be quicker posts. Many of you asked about the validity of the facts for this story. If you have read my other works (which I would encourage you to do), you know that everything I write about has been thoroughly researched beforehand. I take pride in my work, and want it to be the most accurate as possible, so by the time you've finished this, you'll know A LOT about red pandas. **

A few days later, Beca was holed up in her room once again. However, it was not because she was working on a mix, or that she was just being anti-social. No, this time, it was because she was working on level 2 of becoming a Red Panda Ranger. For this part, Beca was required to draw a picture of the best place for a red panda to live. Beca was not necessarily known for her artistic abilities, but she was determined to make the best drawing of a red panda habitat that there ever was.

After her Monday 2:30 class got over for the day, Beca excused herself up to her room. "Hey guys, I'm going to go work on another project. Call me when it's time to eat please," Beca said, as she grabbed a box of crackers and 2 juice pouches from the fridge to munch on. "Other than that, don't disturb me. It's really important." The few Bellas that were home when she was were curious but didn't pry. They were used to Beca disappearing for hours on end.

3 hours after heading up, Beca was still at her desk, head resting on her arms, surrounded by a few crumpled pieces of paper. There were even more crumpled balls in and around the waste bin that was placed by the door. She had her notebook out, that was filled with scrawls slightly smeared by her left handed drag due to laziness. Words like "bamboo", "forest trees" and "mountains" were scribbled on the paper, and a badly drawn doodle of a small panda head in the top corner. A blank piece of paper and some colored pencils lay untouched next to the notebook.

That's exactly how Chloe found her when she went to find her for dinner. Chloe has always been the elected Bella to fetch Beca when she was in the middle of something. The girls dubbed her "The Beca Whisperer" because Chloe somehow got away with breaking pretty much every one of Beca's rules when it came to interacting with people. It started before the two were dating, but now it's pretty much a no-brainer. Slowly approaching the desk, Chloe wrapped her arms around Beca's shoulders, planted a small kiss on Beca's temple, and gently whispered, "How ya doin' babe?" in her ear.

"Mmmph." Grumbled Beca. "s'hard."

"Huh?"

"It's hard," Beca repeated tiredly, as she slowly straightened up, twisting back and forth and stretching her arms out to work out the various cramps and kinks in her body. "How do these kids do it? I've got to be the worst at drawing on the planet."

"I'm sure the program isn't too picky. It's not like you're getting a grade on this. Besides, the tiny humans this is actually geared towards, isn't worried about what it looks like. They're doing this for fun. You're turning this into something way more complicated than it needs to be."

"You think?" Beca asked doubtfully.

"Becs, baby, you're taking this more seriously than the majority of your classes." Chloe replied with a chuckle.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. Remember what they say on the airplanes, 'secure your air mask first before helping others.' You can't help save the red pandas if you work yourself to death before you even become a ranger."

Chloe couldn't believe what she was saying, but her poor girlfriend looked so pathetic and discouraged by her lack of creativity, she had to help somehow.

"Why don't we clean up a bit and get some real food in you. Strawberry lemonade and Cheeze-Its don't count as dinner. You can tell the girl's all about what you've been learning while we eat. We can come back to this later, after you finish your _actual_ homework."

"Fine," Beca agreed, after thinking it over for a bit. "What are we having? I hope it's good. I'm starving."

"It's Fat Amy's turn to cook so—"

"YES! CHINESE!" Beca hollered, suddenly very energized. "Did you order..,?"

"Yes Beca, I ordered you your favorite. What kind of girlfriend do you think I am?"

"Um. The BEST one." Beca said, quickly kissing Chloe on the lips and hugging her as thanks. "When is it coming?"

"That's why I'm up here. I came to tell you that it arrived."

"Well, why are we still standing here? Let's go eat. Oh, you wanna know a fun fact? Red Pandas can be found in some parts of China. Maybe that's why I love Chinese so much. That and the fact that it's just yummy." Beca rattled off some more facts as the two descended the stairs. Chloe smiled to herself, happy to see Beca so excited about something other than music.


	3. Lhotse

**A/N: I'm not 100% happy with this chapter, so it might get edited later, but for now here is a slightly longer chapter for you guys to make up for the last chapter being short! We're halfway there folks!**

**PART 3: LHOTSE**

Friday night rolled around, and Beca was still working on her project. This time it was some web searching. Her assignment was to find 5 different credible websites and write down something she learned from each of them. Contrary to her academic performance at the university, Beca actually enjoyed learning. This was something that she would deny to her last breath, but Beca liked finding topics she was interested in and researching all she could. Discovering something enjoyable and knowing a lot about it, whether or not it was useful information, was what she liked. What Beca didn't like was school, because in her mind, grades and tests are not an accurate measure of how smart you are.

'_School sucks,' _she would say if anyone ever asked her why she skipped so many classes._ "I'm never going to use the majority of this in real life. And tests are stupid. I don't need a letter grade to tell me that I was able to memorize some facts that I'll forget as soon as the test is over."_

Nevertheless, Beca was working diligently on completing the 3rd level of the Red Panda Ranger program. She had completed her 5 websites already but was still clicking on links and squealing every time a new picture or video popped up.

Stacie came home from her physics class and looked over at Beca sitting on the couch working on her laptop. "Wow B. I didn't expect to see you down here. You've been in your room all week!"

"Yeah, well, Chloe said if I stay in our room any longer and be anti-social that she would force me to share a sleeping bag with Aubrey at the Bella's sleepover tonight."

"Um. Excuse you, but no. Sharing sleeping bags with Aubrey is MY thing, not yours. I'm glad you came to your senses and are down here," said Stacie cheekily.

"You _wish_ it was your thing," Beca retorted. "I don't understand you sometimes Conrad."

"Shut your face hobbit," Stacie shot back, barely containing her laughter.

"What did the hobbit do now?" a voice came from behind the two brunettes.

It was Aubrey, holding 2 massive bags, which she deposited on the floor upon crossing the threshold.

"Um, nothing. Hey General," Beca said, turning to greet her ex nemesis from her spot on the couch in the living room.

Over the years, Beca and Aubrey had become much closer, a fact that Beca highly attributed to dating Chloe. It didn't mean she and Aubrey didn't like to tease and pretend to still hate each other, because they did still have their moments, but it was much less frequent than before.

"Hello," Aubrey said, shooting Beca a questioning glance, still not entirely sure she should trust her.

"Hey Stace," Aubrey continued.

"Hi Aubrey!" Stacie said with a hint of mischief in her eyes. "Beca and I were just talking about the Bella's sleepover tonight. Who would you rather share a sleeping bag with? Me or Beca?"

At that, Aubrey flushed a light pink and was silent for a while, obviously entertaining the thought of sharing with Stacie but not wanting to admit it. "Neither. I brought an air mattress," she said finally, gesturing to one of the bags. "I can't sleep on the floor one more time, and that lumpy couch is not much better."

Aubrey had moved into graduate school student housing, but still was a regular fixture in the Bella's house and the girls always invited her to their activities. At the last Bella's sleepover, Aubrey gave up half way through the night, and moved up on to the couch, but still spent the entirety of the next morning complaining to whoever would listen.

"You're such a grandma," Beca teased.

"Well, you're the size of a 5th grader, so…"

"So? You—." Beca began.

"Alright ladies," Stacie said, "what happened to the whole 'we can be civil' thing?"

"That's only when Chloe is here," Beca and Aubrey said in unison.

"What about Chloe?" Chloe said, entering the room having just arrived home.

"Jesus Christ. What is it with this timing today?!" Beca exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air.

"Well hello to you too," Chloe said as she strode over to Beca and leaning over the back of the couch to hug her. "How was your day, baby?"

"Long," Beca admitted, sinking into Chloe's embrace.

"What about your guys'?" Chloe asked, looking up at Aubrey and Stacie.

"Good!" Aubrey said. "My research paper was accepted and I'm still doing well on my capstone thesis."

Beca made gagging faces at Stacie before Chloe slightly swatted at her.

"Stacie?"

"Well," Stacie said. "My physics partner is sort of an inverse of Einstein, but other than that it was decent."

"So, now that we have our pleasantries taken care of, it brings me back to my main point. What were you talking about when I got here?" Chloe said, eyes flitting back and forth between her girlfriend and her best friend.

Beca and Aubrey seemed to be having a silent conversation with one another before Aubrey finally said, "Sleeping arrangements."

"Babe, were you down here all afternoon?" Chloe exclaimed, suddenly as she hopped over an arm and planted herself next to Beca.

"Yeah," Beca said proudly. "But not like, cuz you told me to or anything," She added quickly. "I just thought a change of scenery would be nice for a little bit."

Quickly putting two and two together, Chloe started to smile broadly. "Mhmmm," nodded Chloe knowingly.

"What? I just like the idea of sleeping with you better than Aubrey," Beca said adamantly. "Is that so bad of me? Plus, Stacie would be heartbroken if I stole her place next to Posen."

"Yeah. The hunter and I called pretty much called dibs on Posen when I first joined the Bellas," Stacie added in, staking her claim for good measure.

"Um. Excuse me but '_Posen'_ is sleeping on the air mattress," Aubrey interjected, slightly amused that the other 3 girls had seemed to forget she was still there.

"Bree, you brought that monstrosity? How is everyone else going to fit on the floor?" Chloe questioned.

"I'll share the mattress with Aubrey," Stacie volunteered immediately.

"Calm down Conrad, this isn't the Hunger Games," Beca said.

"Could've fooled me," Stacie said, "You're basically being controlled by the Capitol's Peacekeepers."

"Don't call my girlfriend a Peacekeeper."

"Why not? You're literally following Chloe's orders to be down here instead of in your room so you don't get punished."

"I'm… That's not…," Beca grumbled, as Chloe cooed and kissed her cheek.

"Okay. Now guys calm down," Chloe began.

"_Peacekeeper_," Stacie coughed loudly.

"Would you guys just stop?" she said exasperatedly.

The rest of the Bellas were all beginning to arrive home by now, but they were staying clear of the living room.

"Watch out Legacy," Cynthia Rose said, warning the youngest Bella as she walked through the kitchen. "The aca-parents are fighting."

"Beca is pretending she's not totally whipped," Fat Amy said, contributing her 2 cents into the conversation.

"We all know she is though," Flo said. "You know, in my country…"

While the Bellas discussed the power balance between Chloe and Beca, the two girls in question plus Aubrey and Stacie were still in a heated discussion on sleeping arrangements.

"Well, that depends on the rest of the girls and what they want too," Chloe said diplomatically. "I saw most of them come in while we were talking. Let's go ask them."

"I'm totally down for whatever," Fat Amy said, when the 4 girls walked into the kitchen where the rest of the Bellas were gathered. "As long as I get to be closest to the TV this time. Em should be somewhere on the outside, so we don't trip over her giraffe legs again."

"Hey!" said Emily indignantly. "They're not _that_ long."

"Jessica still has a sprained ankle from our last sleepover," Ashley said bluntly, looking at her best friend in sympathy.

"Ugh. Why can't we figure this out?" Stacie sighed.

"You know what? Let's just do it like normal and everyone can just be careful when they get up to use the bathroom," Aubrey said, resigned to the fact that she would not be using her air mattress after all."

"I'll second that and motion that we move on and concentrate on what we're going to eat," Cynthia Rose said, "I'm starving."

"Did you know that in addition to bamboo leaves, red pandas will eat fruit and grass and sometimes eggs, insects or actual small animals?" Beca said randomly to Chloe, as they all crowded around the stack of take out menus.

"Beca. No more red panda talk. It's all you've been doing all week," Chloe chastised.

"Fine. But how about I can give 5 facts a day," Beca bargained.

"Three," Chloe said.

"Deal," Beca accepted.

"_Peacekeeper_," Fat Amy coughed this time as she motioned a snapping gesture with her hand and shared a knowing smile with Stacie.

Beca shot her a glare, and said, "I will have Lily dig your eyes out with a spoon while you sleep."

Lily looked up at hearing her name and gave a disturbingly sinister smile.

"Mmmm. On the other hand, maybe not."

"Would you guys focus so we can eat before everything closes?" Cynthia Rose snapped. "I'm _still_ starving."

"It's not even 6," Emily pointed out, "most places around here don't close for quite a while."

"Legacy, you're not helping us get food any faster," Cynthia Rose muttered.

"Sorry," Emily said, looking down.

"CR's right," Aubrey said with an air of superiority, "let's shift our attention to something actually important."

At hearing their former captain speak, all the girls turned and looked at Aubrey, as she held up the stack of menus. "Tonight's choices are…"

"Wait. Hold up. Why do you get to pick where we order from?" Beca said.

"Because I have to sleep on the floor with all of you," Aubrey replied immediately.

"We're not that bad," Ashley said.

"At least none of us snore," Jessica added.

"Thank God," Fat Amy said, "I need my beauty rest."

"You're one to talk," Flo said, "You never sleep here. You're always sneaking out to hook up with Bumper."

"I'm not sneaking out to hook up. I've told you. I'm _studying_," Fat Amy stressed.

"Speaking of studying, what have you been working on Beca? I never see you studying," asked Emily, trying to steer the conversation into less dangerous territory.

"Didn't I tell you? I'm gonna be a Red Panda Ranger!" Beca exclaimed.

"You're gonna be a what now?" Cynthia Rose said.

"A Red Panda Ranger!" Beca repeated.

"Is that why you've suddenly become an expert on those bear-raccoon looking things?"

"They're not bears OR raccoons," Beca said petulantly. "They're their own species, and they have 2 subspecies. I'll prove it to you."

Beca ran to get her laptop from the living room. While she was gone, Chloe turned to the girls and said, "Don't get her too excited or we'll never eat."

"I'm back!" Beca announced unnecessarily, as she held her computer in her hand.

"We can see that," Stacie said sassily.

"Can you just be quiet for once in your life and look?" demanded Beca, jabbing at the screen. There were multiple tabs open, but on the active window, was Beca's research for her latest level that she was working on.

"I found 5 websites and had to write a fact that I learned from it. Pretty easy, but I did some extra poking around just for fun."

Website 1:

Website Name: Atlanta Zoo

Website Address: /animal/red-panda/

Comment: A fact I learned is that they live about 8 to 10 years but in zoological settings they may live into their late teens.

Website 2:

Website name: World Wildlife Fund

Website address: species/red-panda  
Comment: According to WWF almost 50% of the red panda's habitat is in the Eastern Himalayas

WEBSITE 3:  
Website name: National Geographic

Website address: animals/mammals/r/red-panda/  
Comment: Red pandas have their own scientific taxonomic family, the Ailuridae

Website 4:

Website name: Encyclopedia Britannica

Website address: animal/red-panda  
Comment: Even though red pandas have tails, they are not prehensile

Website 5:

Website name: Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute

Website address: .edu/animals/red-panda  
Comment: There are 2 recognized subspecies of red pandas – the _Ailurus fulgens fulgens_ and the _Ailurus fulgens styani_(also known as _Ailurus fulgens refulgens_).

"I still don't know what a Red Panda Ranger is…" Emily said cluelessly, as she looked over Beca's shoulder to read the information.

"It's basically someone who tells the world what a red panda is and why they're important," Chloe said quickly, before Beca could launch in to her spiel. "Now, what did we decide on for dinner? I can run out and get it, but we gotta decide real quick so we can have time to watch the movie."

"Indian! Hamburgers! Mexican! Taco Bell! Chinese!" exclaimed everyone all at once.

"So pizza again then," Aubrey said, as she picked up her phone. Chloe shot her a grateful look and the duo tried to continue on planning the night, while the girls were still shouting their suggestions, but it was no use.

"Bellas!" Aubrey bellowed. "Food has been decided. On to the movie."

They finally decided on 'Table 19'. Beca complained the whole movie about how she's always forced to watch romantic comedies and all of the girls couldn't help but tease Beca about how much she looked like a moody version of Eloise.

A little before three-fourths of the way through, Beca excused herself to go up to her room with the intention of continuing her report, but Chloe pulled her back down.

"The point of this sleepover is to be with the other girls, not in our room."

"Fine. But I'm not sleeping next to Aubrey."

"If you promise to be good and stay down here, I'll let you zip our sleeping bags together and we can cuddle," Chloe said wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"I'm a badass. I don't cuddle," Beca pointed out. "But okay," she conceded, sitting down and curling in to Chloe's side to finish out the movie.

Chloe kissed the side of Beca's head and wrapped her arms back around her. "I love you, my little ranger in training."

"You're okay, I guess."


End file.
